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Before World War II, Royal Artillery recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall. Men in mechanised units had to be at least 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall. They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve or four years and eight years.
The First World War had been the first artillery war, in which the British Royal Artillery (RA) advanced enormously in technological and tactical sophistication. Independent Heavy and Siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) were grouped into Heavy Artillery Groups, later termed brigades, under the command of a lieutenant-colonel, at the disposal of Army Corps.
A British 4.5-inch gun firing in Tunisia, 1943. The Headquarters (HQ) of 1st AGRA was formed at Hamilton Park, Glasgow, on 24 August 1942. [8] [9] [10] It was assigned to First Army for the landings in North Africa (Operation Torch), and arrived in Tunisia in January 1943, together with 56th Heavy Regiment, equipped with 7.2-inch howitzers – the first heavy regiment of the RA to serve ...
The heavy artillery was equipped with the 7.2-inch Howitzer, a modified First World War weapon that nevertheless remained effective. During the war, brigade–sized formations of artillery, referred to as Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA), were formed. [49] These allowed control of medium and heavy artillery to be centralised.
The 1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of the British Army from 1920 until 1954. Originally formed in the Royal Engineers (RE), it was transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) at the start of World War II. It fought with distinction in the defence of Calais during the Battle of France, in which it was virtually ...
Self-propelled artillery vehicles were a way of enabling the Royal Artillery to function with the same degree of battlefield mobility as conventional tank formations. They were self-propelled guns , usually based on a tank chassis, which were normally used for long-range indirect bombardment support on the battlefield.
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). The RGA were the 'technical' branch of the Royal Artillery who were responsible for much of the ...
4th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery; London Heavy Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery; V Lowland Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (T.F.) N.